The Hottest Duo Is Getting Hotter

Two of my favourite tennis players joined forces late last season to become the hottest doubles team on the WTA tour. Victoria Azarenka and Maria Kirilenko play seldom together, but when they do, they are up for a great performance. They showed us a proof last week in Stanford, when they have captured their third trophy together. After easy wins in earlier round, the duo posed a convincing display to defeat doubles legends Lisa Raymond and Liezel Hubel in the final act.

The courts from the Stanford University bear a special significance in their hearts, as they mark the opening chapter of their story. Last year, in their first showing together, Maria and Victoria advanced to the semifinals. To build on their great start, a couple of weeks later, playing in their second tournament, they ended up victorious by capturing the prestigious Cincinnati title.

This year, the duo has committed to playing more often and the results did not fail to come. After reaching the final of the Australian Open and winning the Premier crown in Madrid, this title comes as another glimpse of their huge potential. Both are very promising singles players. While Maria is still struggling to fulfill her talent, Azarenka's career is in full bloom. Moreover, Maria is a regular doubles player, while Victoria owns a strongest doubles resume. She has two mixed doubles Slams under her belt, plus several other Slam finals both in mixed and women's doubles. Nevertheless, as in singles, it's their inconsistency that impedes them from reaching the highest heights. Even so, given their excellent achievements in their scarce outings, their future looks bright, the duo starting to strengthen its credentials as one of the toughest on the tour.

Women's tennis needs a spark to ignite a rather dull period and I think that Victoria and Maria possess all the attributes to fill in this gap.

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Something To Spoil Azarenka's Party

What a week this could have been for red-hot Victoria Azarenka! She cruised through her first three singles matches losing only five games and looking poised to maintain her recent fine run of form with yet another title at the Premier event in Madrid. She then overcame a tricky opponent, i.e. Czech Lucie Safarova, who managed to win a set during their quarterfinal clash before bowing out to the powerful Belorussian. What should have been the toughest nut to crack, proved a relatively easy affair for Victoria, who dismissed the other in form player at the moment, German Julia Goerges, with a routine 6-4,6-2 win. Just when everything was starting to go her way, Petra Kvitova came along. She looked utterly sharp and determined  since the very beginning. She kept her demeanor throughout the final, coming out on top of a tough two setter to spoil Azarenka's party. She may have been overpowered by Kvitova, who denied her the third title of the season, but Victoria definitely has enough reasons to celebrate. Her steady results and impressive string of victories ensured she became the first Belorussian to crack into the top 4 when the new ranking will be released on Monday. Previously she shared the record with compatriot Natasha Zvereva, who made it to number 5 in the world back in 1989.

Moreover, her victory in the doubles adds up to the celebration. Ever since she joined forces with Russian Maria Kirilenko, the duo found instant success. Last year, in one of their first tournaments together, they've won the Premier event in Cincinnati. More significantly, this year, the two were a set and 4-1 up in the Australian Open final, before finally succumbing to world number 1 Flavia Pennetta and Gisela Dulko. They got a well deserved revenge in Madrid, knocking them out in the quarterfinals stage. Besides having to dispose of the number 1 seeds, their path to glory was really challenging, Radwanska/ Hantuchova, King/ Shedova  and Srebotnik/ Peschke being among their opponents. They won each battle handily and collected the biggest trophy of their resume. Both being excellent doubles contestants, I am sure this is only the beginning of a fruitful collaboration.

Adding everything up, I am really glad to see Azarenka delivering and consolidating her place among the world's best. This is where she belongs and probably many were expecting her to make the transition there sooner. Nevertheless, her coming of age is great for women's tennis and if she can stay injury free and pick up consistency, the future can only look better.

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